Human Rights Concern - Eritrea (HRCE) is an independent, non-profit making, human rights organization based in UK. The organization is dedicated to the promotion and protection of human rights of Eritreans at home and all over the world. HRCE believes that all human beings are equal regardless of race, religion, gender and political affiliation and strives for a peaceful Eritrea where fundamental human rights are respected.

On the 5th of June 2018, we noted with delight your government’s decision to unconditionally implement the Algiers Peace Agreement, and humbly attempted to express our concerns with regard to the response of the government of Eritrea to your call for peace. We are following with great interest the ongoing peace process. Nevertheless, as we have already anticipated, we have come to learn with regret that the process lacks transparency and remains completely hidden from the Eritrean public. It has been handled by few Eritrean officials. Precisely, the process is being controlled at the whim of Issaias Afewerki and in accordance with his personal wishes and desires. Therefore, our previous fears and concerns that we brought to your attention are not without substance. Rather they are backed by solid evidence.

As you pay a visit to Eritrea, it might be important to take note of the fact that your delegation will not meet institutions such as representatives of peoples’ or national assembly, social, human rights and professional associations and religious leaders who can express their ideas freely. Such institutions and organizations does not exist in Eritrea. This is due to a simple reason that the repressive culture of the Eritrean government does not allow such national and peoples’ institutions and organizations to flourish and play a role in Eritrea’s development.

Most importantly, Eritrea does not have a constitution nor a semblance of any government structure that clearly demarcate the authorities of the executive, legislative and judicial bodies. Accordingly, any agreement that you may reach in the absence of such government structures in Eritrea is tantamount to null and void. Indeed, the regime in Eritrea lacks the required political and moral authority to sign any agreement on behalf of Eritrean people. And any peace effort done with such an illegitimate entity is rather a waste of time and will have no impact in building a sustained normalization of relations between the two peoples.

Real and sustained solution for the good relations between Eritrean and Ethiopian people can only be realized when dialogue is made with those exiled Eritrean justice seekers who have the opportunity to speak freely. We plead with you to make such contacts with those groups. We recognize that the border issue is paramount; and this is why we paid heavy price over the course of 32 years (1961-1991 & 1998-2000) to secure Eritrea’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. Hence, for us border means life, and not an artificial line.

Our country, like all its peers, has got a highly revered land, sea and air borders. The task of securing its borders is the responsibility of its people. If the Ethiopian government would truly like to ensure that peace and prosperity reigns among the two peoples, we believe it must unconditionally and swiftly implement the Algiers Agreement whose primary cause was the border itself and all the destruction and loss of life that followed thereafter.

Nations and peoples remain while governments and leaders transient. Unfortunately, unlike the people of Ethiopia, the people of Eritrea have not been endowed with leader that care about his own people. As a result of this, our people are going through horrendous moments in time. Many have disappeared without any trace and others suffer and tortured in various dungeons. Thousands have fled the country. Many have lost their lives in their efforts to reach a safe haven. Some lost their lives in the Sahara deserts and others sunk in the Mediterranean Sea. Many remain jailed without any contact to their loved ones. So, for us, the new-year or epiphany celebrations have no meaning at all. The Eritrean family is mourning one way or another. Indeed, we have a long way to go before we reach to the level of celebratory mode and hope Ethiopians are displaying. What our people need is not an invitation for celebrations, but an end to the border issue. So, we plead with you to swiftly and unconditionally implement the Algiers agreement and demarcate the border.

As explained above, the regime in Eritrea did not come to power through the concent of the people. To protect its illegitimate power, the regime has unleashed terror as preferred method of governance. As a result, Ertireans are forced to leave their country in droves. Accordingly, today we have thousands of Eritreans from all walks of life enduring a hard life in refugee camps in Western Tigray.

While peace is something to wish for, the ongoing peace process with an illegitimate regime, which does not take any kind of responsibility for the people, is causing a lot of unease among the Eritrean refugees living in Tigray and other cities in Ethiopia. They are concerned about their future, their safety and security. We would like to bring to your attention that, due to the ongoing peace process, they are going through difficult psychological pressures. Accordingly, we respectfully call upon your government to pay your kind attention on the refugees’ conditions, set out a program that would help assuage the ongoing psychological unease they are experiencing, and ensure that they are assured with a continued legal and security protection.

Sustained peace can be achieved when negotiated and agreed to with a government that cares about its own people, and not with an illegitimate ruler who thinks he is above everyone else and the law.

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Recently, the Information Minister of Eritrea, Mr Yemane Gebermeskel, confirmed that indefinite National Service is going to remain without fundamental change, but that the government is planning to increase the present very low wages paid to conscripts: Eritrea won't shorten national service despite migration fears.

In effect, Eritrea is not prepared to stop forcing its youth into lengthy stretches of work as soldiers and civil servants, a conscription policy that is driving waves of refugees to leave the country to escape from compulsory National Service for an unlimited-period. Each month as many as 5,000 people flee Eritrea, according to U.N. figures.

National Service Labor

Legally, all Eritrean citizens, male and female, between the ages of 18 and 40, must complete 18 months of service to the state. But those who flee from the country say that this National Service can stretch to 15 years and even more. The government reserves the right to extend the length of service for any citizen without limit. Officially, compulsory military service does not extend beyond the age of 50, but one man was still in compulsory National Service at the age of 68. Eritreans in National Service receive military training for 6 months, and some may supposedly move into other government employment, including the civil service. At the end of active military service, citizens are supposed to have the right to return to their previous employment, but many are forced into government employment, only to become what might be termed “slave labourers” in construction and other industries, with no rights or freedom to leave this employment. During this period, the conscript is paid a wage, which is roughly equivalent to10 US Dollars per month.

In law and on paper, Eritrean military “training” (for 6 months) followed by “active military service” last in total for 18 months. Officially, when he or she has completed active military service, a conscripted citizen can leave the army. But a citizen who has completed active military service is often immediately and legally compelled to enter full time “Reserve” military service, which can extend “until he/she is released”. Anyone who tries to avoid or escape this compulsory employment is automatically imprisoned as an absconder, and severely tortured.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights declares that everyone has the right to work and to free choice of employment in just and favourable conditions”, and the “right to just and favourable remuneration.” There is clearly no free choice of employment for anyone subjected to Eritrean National Service, notably when it ends and he or she is drafted into labour not of their choice, for which he or she is paid a pittance. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights also declares that “Everyone has the right to freedom of movement within the borders of each state”, and the “right to leave his own country” to “seek and enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution.” There is a ‘shoot-to-kill’ policy, and no one who is involved in Eritrean National Service enjoys these rights to movement or to seek refuge elsewhere from an unjust regime.

The United Nations Human Rights Council appointed a Special Rapporteur to review human rights in Eritrea. In her 2014 report, she stated that the numbers of National service evaders or escapees and those suspected of wanting to flee or caught during flight.... may reach tens of thousands. ”Such persons are invariably arrested and detained. Detainees are held without being informed about the reason for their arrest and without an arrest warrant”. (sections 51 and 52). Eritrea justifies its retention of national service and harsh treatment of refugees and absconders from the military by citing continuing hostilities with Ethiopia.

But the Rapporteur declared, “Eritrea cannot use border disputes as an excuse to continue to violate its human rights obligation...the state obligation to respect, protect and fulfil human rights domestically is not dependent on external factors....The open-ended nature of national service is depriving the women and men of Eritrea of their most productive years, forcing them to cross borders to take their destiny into their own hands”. (sections 95 & 96)

In response to the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of Eritrea’s Human Rights in 2014, the government of Eritrea rejected recommendations to end enforced and indefinite-term military service, but stated that it had begun its demobilization programme in 2002. There is absolutely no evidence of any such demobilization. In the same UPR, the Government of Eritrea also rejected recommendations concerning conscription and abuse of child soldiers, stating that there is no under-age recruitment in Eritrea’s military. But students aged 16 and more are recruited every year into the Sawa Military Academy, starting their military training before they have become adults.

The Eritrean Government must listen to the international community and experts appointed by the United Nations and end the whole process of compulsory and indefinite National Military Service, putting a strict enforceable limit of not more than 18 months to the term of compulsory National Service; and Eritrea must offer non-military options for such Service. The Eritrean government must be told that conscripts are not slaves and they should not be held against their will in the military. No one must be arrested, imprisoned, or punished or shot for attempting to leave the military to lead a life of his/her choice, which is an inalienable right guaranteed under international law.